As you think about Christmas remember that there was a real Saint
Nicolas born in Patara (see post).Bishop Nicolas was influential in the Synod
of Nicaea that finalized the New Testament.So yes there was a real Santa Claus and he was from Turkey (though he
was Greek)!!Next Post: Göreme Top 9 Sights

Thursday, 11 December 2014

Maiden's Castle (Kiz Kalesi)

Gorgeous Coast

﻿The main reasons to stop in Kizkalesi are to see the
Maiden's Castle (Kiz Kalesi) that appears to float on top of the water and
the exquisite, soft sand beach. But we can now add the drop dead gorgeous coast on the way there as a big reason. Our final
reason was to have a stopover before the big trek across the Taurus Mountains
to Goreme, Cappadocia.

From Kaleiçi(Antalya's former castle) we drove to Alanya, which is
wall-to-wall modern hotels. I am not sure why people want to go to a town where
every space is filled with modern hotels. It does have an extensive beach but
it reminds me of Miami.

﻿

Magnificent Verdant View

Our hotel hosts thought it was crazy to drive 7 hours
in one day to Kizkalesi. But the point is to see the scenery and it's on the
way to Goreme. The distance is short but it is a winding, cliff-hugging road
with lots of traffic.

﻿

Stunning Sand

A new expressway will eventually take most of the traffic
away from this coastal road. If your schedule is tight then you can bypass this
long drive along the coast and head directly from Antalya to Cappadocia.But this rugged coastal scenery is gorgeous
and probably second only to the turquoise-fringed beaches of Demre.

Terrific Turquoise

The
only thing missing is pullovers at the view of the turquoise-etched coves from
high up on this ledge road. When there was a decent size space
to stop, we took photos of the coastal views. Unfortunately, we never found any
place for lunch (again).We are going
to have to complain to the tour operator!It was only 420 km to Kizkalesi but it actually took nine hours to drive
there.

﻿

Kizkalesi Castle

On the plus side, we arrived just in time to see the
Maiden's Castle (Kiz Kalesi) in sunset lighting. It is located on a shallow
island located
just 150 m off shore so that it appears to be floating
on the sea.It dates from Byzantine era
and was used as a fort during the Crusades. There is a second castle at the end
of the beach.

Rain Hotel

We
were worried when we got to the hotel and the doors were locked.The hotel manager from across the street came
over and reassured us that the manager probably went shopping.So he kept us company.He spoke perfect English having worked in
Britain for a while.

We
are the only guests at the Rain Hotel in Kizkalesi!It is a very modern place.We spent a lot of time speaking with the
owner, Mehmet Shirin, who speaks perfect English.My sister 'Umet' thinks he looks like he could be our cousin.

﻿

NarlikuyuNosh

Mehmet drove with us to a nearby town of Narlikuyu (west of Kizkalesi) that
has several seafood restaurants at the harbour.Since he was a regular customer there he made sure they prepared a
special meal for us. We had the best sea bass as it was grilled rather than
fried. We had so much food we made up for not eating lunch.We had seaweed of some kind and a delish
green salad as well as a version of fried potatoes plus a banana and desert
with yummy Turkish coffee.We ate while
admiring the views of the sea.

The
rest of the evening we spent talking with Mehmet and finding out
all about him. He is Kurdish and his family moved here when the Turkish army
burned down their village. The Kurdish language is related to the Farsi (Iranian) branch
of the Indo-European language group. He said 39,000
people died over the last 30 years.The
situation appears to have been resolved peacefully last year.He showed us pictures of his son (he is
separated).Now we are watching Istanbul
playing Chelsea in an EU football game.

Busy Beach

The next morning before breakfast we walked from our
hotel just half a block to the beach. None of the hotels are actually on the
shore. All beaches and shoreline are owned by the government so there are no
private beaches.The sand was very soft but the size was
small. Otherwise this ranks up there as one of the top five beaches on the
Turquoise Coast.

﻿

Mehmet

There were some small bits of garbage dropped on the beach - I assume by the locals since there were no tourists.Mehmet said during the season they will use a vehicle to clean the
beach. They get very few foreigners as most of their guests are Turkish.We had a nice breakfast outside the hotel on
the road-side terrace.Again the Turkish
coffee was to die for. Next Post: Happy SaturnaliaLast Post: Stupendous Aspendos and Köprülü Kanyon

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

Awesome Aspendos, Colourful Köprülü | Antalya Turkey | in-depth travel advice from Terra EncountersThis post is about the last of the
reasons for visiting Antalya: to use it as a base for the surrounding
archaeological sites as well as nature delights.The two sites we chose were the famous Roman
theatre at Aspendos and the gorgeous green river flowing through Köprülü Kanyon.

Stupendous Aspendos

Stupendous Aspendos

Today we drove 40 km (one hour) to see
the Aspendos Theatre only to find out that it was closed for three months to
put a concrete roof over the semicircular gallery at the top of the
theatre.By the way, that is not too controversial since the Romans invented concrete. In fact, the greatest Roman temple was one of the first to use concrete. That building is not a ruin and is still in use today.

Cleaning the Road to the Acropolis

It is
known as the Pantheon- the largest dome ever built until the Houston Astrodome.

So I hiked up to the acropolis, which was
mildly interesting. I passed some locals who were cleaning up the road with
views of verdant fields fringed by low mountains in the background.

Acropolis Main Road

There was a partially uncovered sewer or aqueduct - take care. At the top
of the acropolis were a large set of ruins especially one very large basilica, which was the origin of both the name and the architecture for the Christian Basilica.

Then I walked back to the road on the left then up
"theatre hill" (there's a sign) for dramatic views of the whole
interior of the theatre from above.

Aspendos Theatre

It
is completely intact and massive. It did not fall down during the major
earthquake in the 4th C that destroyed the rest of the city.While it would be overpopulated by tour
groups in high season, we had the site to ourselves except for four young
Chinese tourists, who came by taxi.

﻿﻿

So why was this architectural miracle
located here in the middle of nowhere? All the important tourist sites of today
were once important cities in the past. Aspendos was founded by the Hittites, who like the Lycians came from the Caucasus region as part of the great
Aryan migration that led to Europeans and European languages.It later became Persian, who are also
descendant of the Aryans. It was freed in 467 BC from the Persians. The Greeks used one of their tricks: they sent
men in the clothing of their Persian captives and were let into the city for a
celebration.Then the Greeks attacked. While
the Persians recaptured it in 411 BC, Alexander the Great
conquered it in 333 BC.

Aspendos Basilica

﻿Aspendos
was not a capital or major power. So how did Aspendos afford this
splendour?It was able to finance these
buildings because it was rich due to trade in salt, wool and oil. The theatre
was established by Emperor Marcus Aurelius in second century CE.Its main redeeming feature is that it is huge
and intact. But it is bereft of any
decoration. I still prefer the theatre
in Hierapolis (in Pamukkale)where there are partial columns and
statues decorating the stage.So in
retrospect, if we had to choose which sites to visit, we would opt for Hierapolis
and Afrodisias, which have a lot more to see.

Emerald Koprulu River

Aspendos only took about one hour so that
is a good indication.Today was an
example where having a car makes a difference. We were able to choose another
destination we had not planned.

Köprülü Kanyon

How Did They Build This Bridge?

So we drove 45 km further east to Köprülü Canyon. That was a pleasant surprise. First we traversed flat farms
surrounded by low mountains when suddenly the first viewpoint of the river
appeared on our left. It was overlooking the first of the river rafting
companies. Köprülü
is famous for river rafting.Below us flowed a gorgeous emerald green
river.

Amazing Roman Bridge

Then things got very dramatic as the
river and the road go through a narrow canyon.The road hugs a cliff then crosses a beautiful stone arched bridge 27 m
above the gorgeous green river. But wait the sign says this was built by the
Romans in 2nd Century CE!Wow, and it
still supports cars after almost 2000 years.Köprü means bridge, so clearly this was an engineering feat even in its time. Admission
to Köprülü National Park is free by the way.

No Diving

I got out of the car and climbed massive
rocks along the cliff on the other side of the bridge to get better photos of
the canyon.At the highest point the
walls rise 400 m above the river. Pine and cedar trees cling to the rocky
crust. The ancient road led to Selge, which has a Roman theatre and a Temple of
Zeus.

Construction Zone

On the way back, we saw some locals building a retaining wall. Then the rough, dirt road
under construction was damaged by a mud slide that swept away a part of the
road. Everyone waited while the construction crew filled in the gap. They were
already there because they are creating a better and hopefully wider road.So that was our
adventure for today. Next Post: KizkalesiLast Post: Antalya Kaleiçi

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About Us

The purpose of this blog is to ignite your
sense of wonder and help you appreciate travelling and learning about the world. It covers art, architecture, culture and traditions that are
relevant to travel. Interesting stories highlight how one culture has impacted another culture.

We have lived and travelled around the world, particularly in Europe (7 years), North and Central America. We have led courses and seminars on travel and culture appreciation at the University of Alberta, Grant MacEwan Univ. and the Edmonton Convention Centre. We plan all of our trip itineraries by computer.